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Active material based haptic alert system

a technology of active materials and haptic alerts, applied in repeater circuits, instruments, line-transmission details, etc., can solve the problems of high power consumption, difficult process, and high cost of conventional mechanical actuators

Active Publication Date: 2007-05-17
GM GLOBAL TECH OPERATIONS LLC
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006] A method for alerting an occupant of a vehicle of a condition comprises producing an activation signal with an activation device; and applying the activation signal to an active material in operative communication with a

Problems solved by technology

Conventional mechanical actuators are costly, their form factor is large, they have higher power consumption, and it is not a straightforward process to couple their output to the driver.
Moreover, even when conventional mechanical actuators can be made to fit, their large form factor often modifies the normal shape and feel of the vehicle surfaces that the actuators are under.
This can result in reduced comfort for the driver and passengers.

Method used

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  • Active material based haptic alert system
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  • Active material based haptic alert system

Examples

Experimental program
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Embodiment Construction

[0013] Exemplary embodiments provide integrated haptic collision alerts that supply timely information to a driver of a vehicle about the presence, urgency, and direction of potential collision threats. Alternative embodiments include haptic-based alerts for providing other information such as a vehicle condition to a driver such as alerting / awakening the driver of / from his drowsiness, alerting of excessive distraction from the driving function due to excessive workload (for example vibration intensity increase as workload factors such as cell phone use increase), alerting of the need to turn headlights on and / or the turn signal off, and alerting of the presence of a vehicle in one's blind spot for example when one activates the turn signal or starts to turn the wheel for a lane change, altering the driver to low fuel levels, and the like.

[0014] The systems described herein utilize active materials to provide the haptic-based alert. The use of active materials overcomes many of the...

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PUM

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Abstract

A haptic alert system generally includes an active material based actuator for providing the haptic alert. The active material based actuators refer to the use of several different classes of active materials all of which exhibit a change in at least one attribute such as dimension, shape, and / or flexural modulus when subjected to at least one of many different types of applied activation signals, examples of such signals being thermal, electrical, magnetic, stress, and the like.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application relates to and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 737,202 filed Nov. 16, 2005, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND [0002] This disclosure generally relates to haptic alerts, and more particularly, to active material based haptic alerts for alerting a driver and / or passenger of a condition. [0003] Haptic-based alert systems are emerging in the marketplace to provide a signal to the drivers and / or occupants of a vehicle of various conditions that may occur in the forward, side (left and right), and rear directions. For example, it is known to provide vibrotactile devices and displacement devices to alert a driver of a potential impact event or to warn a driver when the vehicle drifts out of a designated lane. All of these haptic based alert systems utilize mechanical actuators such as solenoids, pistons, and the like that act in concert to provide the desir...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): H04B3/36B60Q1/00
CPCB60Q9/008B60W50/16
Inventor ALTAN, OSMAN D.BROWNE, ALAN L.JOHNSON, NANCY L.REPA, BRIAN S.
Owner GM GLOBAL TECH OPERATIONS LLC
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